Dipping-machine.



C. M. GREEN.

. DIPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED M11. 1a, 1913.

' Patented-Feb. 16-, 1915.

e s'HBETssHEBT 1.

Patnted Feb. 16, 1915.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

\A/IXTFIEE 51-: 5

- 0. M. GREEN. v

DIPPING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JAN.13,191S3. Patented Feb; 16, 1915.

6 SHEBTS-SFBET 4.,

mm fiLwWVW 4 av I 3 C. M. GREEN.

DIPPING MACHINE.

"APPLICATION FILED JAN.13,1913.

' Patefited Feb. 16, 1915. I

6 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

WI TPIEfE: F25:

G. M. GREEN.

DIPPINGMAGHIN-E. v APPLIGATIONTILBD'JAN.13, 191s.

1 1 28,308., Patented 6, i v V v 6 SHEETSS'HEET 6 TIN @1 NT nn.

CHARLES M. GREEN, or mannnnnnan, MASSACHUSETTS, nssrenon, T rnn WALTERMILOWNEY comr my, or Bos'ron, 'massacnnsnwrs, A CORPORATION or MASSA-CHUSETTS. 7

- of- Marblehead, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented a new and "useful Improvement in Dipping-Machines,

of which the following is-a specification.

My invention is particularly useful in the making of chocolate bonbons,where centers nIPPmG-iuaomnn Specification of Letters'Patent.Application filed zranua as, 191s. Serial No. 741,629.

are usually dipped by hand into melted chocolate and are thus coated. Myinvention however may be used for dipping other articles if desired.

In machines for dipping centers hereto- B which is supported by a waterjacket B atenteld Feb. 16,1915.

kept' atthe proper temperature. The dipplng process takes place in apan.

bottom [and side walls of the tank are carried by suitable supports 0from the frame C, which in .turn is' mounted on the tankA, as. will bemore particularly described below. The pan-.B has a down-{p wardlyprojecting neck B which extendsco into and forms a passage from the tankA for the chocolate. The water jacket B is below the pan and surroundsits neck and fore constructed two difficulties have been' experienced,the first being the maintaining of the chocolate .with which the centersare {QTEOID air bubbles, and the other the ban 1 dling of the centersthems'el ves both. before and after they have been. dipped.) Y

My invention relateseto improvements in me is shown.

Figure 1' is an-elevation of -a machine einbodying my invention, thesupporting frame being omitted. Fig. 2-is a vertical section,

the power shaft and its connection beingomitted. .Fig. 3. is an'enlarged section on .spectively an under and side View of the cam 2'disk, Fig. 6 is an enlarged section on line 66 of Fig. 1. Fig-6 is asection showing 35 the air pumpconnection. Fig. 7 isa top view, and Fig.8a sideview, both-full size,

of the center holding. means or finger mechanism. Fig. .9-is a sectionon line 9 -9 of Fig. 7. Fig. 10 isa section on line 10-10 of Fig. 9. 1 e

The mechanism for maintaining the chocolate. at proper consistency maybe .jutilizedfforother like. purposes, and com- -prises a tank i'A whichis provided with a.

water jacket A3. Within" the water jacket may be 'introducedlhot water.orsteam ac- V to be coated, a t a proper consistency andfree Kline33;of Fig. 2. Figs. 41' and 5 are recording to thelgtemperature desired,Whichis kept in constantcirculation gby means of pipes a a in:;the usual.WayQiThJs waterjacket surrounds the periphery of the tank A and.extends undenits bottom, .l so1;that the through it by means of pipes bb in order end of a sleeve d which sleeve passes'down through a'stuiiing box (i in the chamber steam andhot water may be circu' ated tomaintain. the contents of the pan B at a proper temperature. Within theneck orextension B of the pan I. mount a conveyer D. This conveyercomprises a cylinder resting on afhu'b and attached to the upper betweenthe water jacket A and. tank A, and to'the. sleeve'is keyed a beveledgear (1 which is engaged by abeveled gear d mounted on-the end oftheshaft'd carry- 3 'ing at its farther end a bevel gear (1%. This beveledgear d? is in mesh with a' beveled gear d on'the lower endof a verticalshaft a carrying at its upper end a beveled gear d" which meshes withabeveled'geard on the end of the power shaft "C carrying a pulley C Thesevarious shafts are mounted in bearings supported either on the frame Cor jacket A as the-case may be, and by means of power applied to thepulley C the cylinder D is'rotated. The cylinderD is somewhat smaller.in diameter than the'extension B of the pan B,"so that a passage is leftbetween the exterior of the cylinder D and the interior wall of theextension B Near the lower end of-the cylinder D and on the outsidethereof'there is a spiral .conveyer D extending twoor three turns aboutthe cylinder D. This conveyer being of sufficient width to substantiallyclose the lower end of the passage formed between the outer wall of thecylinder D andthe inner wall: of the extension 13.. The water. jacketchambers being filled with hot water or 'steam' to. maintain the f .cZand the exterior of the inlet 03". It will be perature, and the tank Abeing substantially filled with chocolate or other like material whichis about to be lifted to the pan B, the cylinder D rotated insuch adirection that the lower end of the spiral conveyer D will move into theChocolate and cause the chocolate to travel up the conveyor into the achamber between the cylinder and the interior of the extension andgraduallyto be lifted or conveyed up into the pan B. In

practice it is desirable that this lifting proc- I ess shall convey tothe pan the chocolate in greater quantities than is needed. It willbenoticed that the pan B is of less diameter than the tank A, and if thetank receives more chocolate than can be used chocolate will overflowall around from the pan B and fall back into the tank A. Thus there willbe a constant circulation of chocolate through the apparatus, and thechocolate will have no opportunity to settle or thicken and because ofthis constant mixing or agitation .the entire mass will be maintained atsubstantially the same condition.

noted that the lower end of the sleeve d is mounted in a stuffingboxbearing d on top of the exhaust casing d supported fromthe underside ofthe jacket A by means of brackets d. Thus the sleeve and the cylinder- Dmounted upon it maybe rotated independently of the *casing (Z from whichthe outlet al leads.

The jacket B and neck B should havea water; tight joint where they joinbelow-and for'this purpose'l prefer that each should have a lateralextension, which should overlap'as shown at b in Fig. 2. T havealso'shown an agitator to assist in (keeping the chocolate in propercondition. It comprises the hub 0 resting on the bottom of the tank Aand adapted to turn about the sleeve (6. From this hub projecthorizontal-arms 6 having upturned ends 6 and also having vertical arms ewhich connect it with the gear E. The gear E surrounds an asbestoscasing E which. is outside of the jacket B and which serves, as a heatinsulator. To-rotate this agitatorthe gear E is inmeshwi'th a gear Emounted on a stud E supported on the'tank A and in mesh with a. pinionmounted onthe hub ofthe of which carries a beveled gear F shaft (2. Thusupon the rotation of the conveyer or lifter D D the agitator is alsoretated so thatthe entire mass is kept in constant agitation, both Whilein the tank A g and during its lifting and overflowing processes, and byvirtue of the. various chambers around the various parts, with theirvarious inlets and outlets, the temperature of the chocolate ismaintained constantly at any desired degree.

The center dipping mechanism is mounted upon a rotary head supported inthe frame 0 over and concentric with the pair B. During the dippingoperation the centers are held by fingers of which two sets only areshown, but it is intended that the machine shall be provided with such anumber of fingers as may be convenient according to the size of themachine. In the drawings the fingers are located at nearly oppositesides of the machine, and the arrangement is such that duringonerotation of the head each set .of fingers will go twice through theoperations of g ;rasping a center and dipping and releasing' it, themechanism for operating the fingers being duplicated on the head. In asmaller machine this process might take place but once, While in alarger machine themechanism might be triplicated, etc, according tocircumstances.

The head itself comprises a stationary part and a movable part.v Themovable part consists of a disk F which is mounted on' the lower end ofa sleeve F-Kthe upper gnd he sleeve F has a series of openings f,equaling in number the number of sets of-center gripping fingers. Andfrom'each opening leads a tube 7 the mouth of which terminates just overone of the sets' of fingers. Within this sleeve is a tube F which passesup through a bearing C in the frame 0 and is made fast by a nut f andsetnut f. This tube E is stationary and has in. it two openings 7 inposition to register with each peningf as the sleeve rotates, and theuper end of this sleeve is similarly connected .vith a blower C sothat-ablast of air is constantly passing into the tube F and out throughwhichever of the openings f happens to register with the openings fWithin this tube F is an inner tube F through which electric wires Zpass down to the rotary portion of the head for purposes belowdescribed. The beveled gear Fflbymeans of which rotation is given to therotary head, meshes with the beveled gear F on the shaft F, supportedbyhangers F carried by the frame C and having a gear F in mesh with thepinion F on theend of the shaft F carrying suitable pulley connectionsso that the rotation of the shaft F will cause the rotation of therotary head.

The stationary. head G is supported upon me se brackets G and from itdepends a cam'disk H which will be described below.

'ihe rotary head carries hinged to its periphery a series of fingers J.,These fingers are shown in detail .in Figs. 7, 8, 9 and 10, and areconstructed as follows: Each grasping and dipping unit comprisesthreefingers 9:, j, vj The outer'ends of the fingers'j and 9 are alike,each comprising prongs 7' and a screw j. The fingers j are shown loopshape at the end, as at 7' and aid in .finishing the coating as.described. below. L'The' 'fingers jandy' fit into the, sides of the-senters, the steadyingpins 9' being adjustable according to'the generalstyle ofthe centers being covered. I prefer to make the end. 1' .Of thefinger 7' easily removable so-that it may be. changed if desired. Thisfinger is also provided with a pin J for-purposes below described.Thesefingers must begiven proper movements in order that they mayopenand receive the center and may close again about the center and'holdthecenter during the dipping Operation and afterward at the proper timerelease it. The opening and closing operationiis due primarily to theway in which the fingers are mounted, and, secondarily, to certain.mechanism brought tobear upon the fingersfor this purpose. Each finger j7" is mounted on the end of a lever 7070 which is pivoted at [s l-: in acylindrical block K mounted to turnin a'holder K. This holder K-ishinged to a plate K carried-by the rotary head F and is normally held innearly horizontal position by the springkv, one end of.

which is connected to the plate K -andthe other to theholder K.Intherear-end of the block K slides a .bntten-K -which is suitablycentered so as to movedirectly in and out therefrom and is slotted as atK I \Vithin this button aretwo'pinsK which :the block will cause theopening or-spread- 1 pass through slots 70 70 -inthe-rear ends of thelevers ls'lc As a result itwill be seen that the compression of thebutton against ing of the fingers j j (see-:Fig. .7). Y The .of thecenter.

finger 7' is also pivoted in the block K at 70 and held normally in itslowerposition bymeans of a spring k When the parts are in the positionshown in Fig; 7," the fingers j i are held against accidentalseparation,which would result in the dropping The holder K also carries an electricheater L of ordinary construction,

which need not be described,. as any electric I heater will answerthepurpose. Current-1s brought to it by ineanstof wires Z43 which areconnected with the wiresP' the tube- F. The upper end of this tube is'provided with suitable connections 1 and theparts' are insulated in a.way which will be readily.

understood. r

The cam disk referred to above as fc0nnected with the statioharyportiomG -of Zthe heafloasqshown in side elevationinFig. 5,

Fig. ,iis'howing an ,under view offthe cain disk.v The purposeof thiscam disk isto give thef necessary movements to the fingers j j q' asWell :as .to'the holder K byv which all these partsare carried. 'For'this purpose the holder is f provided with a lever K fulcruined on athebutton K the lower end ofwhich lever-isgloosely;attached to the arm K bymeans ofwhich the holder 'Kjzis pivoted to't'he: part K on the disk F.The'fca'm disk G is provided a set of c am surfaces to engage the pinsrKfl'iand another set of surfaces G ,=to.-engage the levers K. A'thirdse't, Gflisfa-l'so provided .to engage thepi'n J (seeFig. ;-'1l'). A shas-been'stated-above,

the cam surfaces are repeated so that-jthe holders ..will dip twocenters during "one rotationof the rotar'y -head.-- In .additio'h theblock-K is given apartial rotationjwhile the center is inthe'ch'ocola'te; its rotation being. completed later. For this pu-rpos'e:'the

block K is providedwith a gear K gfast thereto, and the cam disk G is-provided with racks K K to engageandturnithe gearas occasion requires.1

, In describing theinovements of theholder and-the .various partsconnected thereto, I shall describe the 'movement of each partseparately for thesake of clearnessgandftheln briefly describe how thesevarious {parts cooperat'e fin the:purpose for whiclrthey-are designed. i

The holder'K X y be given a vertical oscillation in order'that with itsvarious parts must it may grasp the center which is fed to it at a levelabove thej levelrdf the' top'o'f'the pan-E and then lower 'the center'into the pan and turnit therein tqeoat it thoroughly; and thereafterliftit from' the pan and give it a shaking to shake off thesuperfluouschocolate, and then lower it to :fpla'ce' it :upon

tion is repeated. j

The cam surface to engage the pinK a 'prhper receptacle; after which theopera which may be termed the 'level con'trolling pin, is partially anedge cam and partlyfa ments' given to' the holder by this cam are aroundthe pivot bywhich it is hinged to the plate K. The operation beginsatapproximately the point marked a" (see Fig.

groove of irregular shape, and the 11love time the upper endef the leverK strikes,

60 v with chocolate, and lateryjust before the as i V areasoe ingdragged through the chocolate pan.

From a to 5 the surface slopes. back to substantially the radius 'of thecam disk, and from 5 to 6 it is serrated so that as the holder is movedalong it is -given. a final jog-' ging or shaking so that thesuperfluous chocolate is removed. From 6 to? the surface is again an arcto allow the rotation of the holder as below described, and at 7 the pinK enters an irregular groove which lifts the fingers sufiiciently highto enable them to place the covered center upon a suitable receptacle,and during the slight drop. al

lowed by the surface from 8 to 9 the covered center is placed on thereceptacle or plaque. From 9 to 1.it lifts the fingers again and theoperation is repeated, the fingers receiving their next center betweenthe'points 1 and 2, as before. While the centers are being held in thechocolate bath, that is, while the holder s being operated by the camsurface 3 to l, it is desirable that they should be rotated somewhat soas to insure the complete covering of the center. For this purpose 1provide a rack surface K whichengages the gear K In the form of'myinvention shown the rack K has four teeth and the gear has 7, 8 teeth,so that the rack gives the holder half a revolution. After the shakingoperation takes place a *further half revolution is given to the holderby means of the rack K this bringing the covered center into position tobe laidu-pon its bottom on the recep? tacle. 4

The cam surface G engages the lever K by means of which the fingers .areopened and closed to releaseone covered center and to grasp a secondcenter ready to be covered.

' For this purpose there is provided a surthe lever K isv graduallydepressed so that the button K -is pushed inwardly toward face 10 tollagainst which at the'proper and as the holder continues'its movementthe. holder and opens out the fingers y j, causing them to drop orbecome disengaged fromthe'covered center. They are then lifted by thecam G so as to ride over the top of the centerand then come down, andare carried farther along the sunface 12 to 13, when they are againsuddenly opened by thesurface 13 to- 14 over anew center, and

vagain closed along the surface 14 to 15, at which time the fingers bgin their descent dipped center .is, placed on the plaque so that afinish shall be put on top of the chocolate, and for this purpose lfhaveattached to the cam disk a surface G which engages with the pin Jand lifts the finger 7' against the force of the spring and a secondsurface G hanging from-Gr for the same, purpose. By this means a stringof chocolate is drawn up from the top of the coating 7 0 until it breaksand falls back upon the coating, thus making an ornamental or finishingstrip which is purely accidental in shape so that it. forms a finish'ontop of the. chocolate in substantially the same way that eachhand-dipped bonbon-is at present finishedn During all this time theheaters L on the holders are kept snliiciently hot electrically to warmthe fingers, so that the coating is maintained at atemperature similarto thatusual during hand dipping. The air blast openings f and fregister at such times as torallow a blast of air,the temperature ofwhich may be regulated if desired, to strike the covered center aninstant before it is dropped, as will be understood from Fig. 6.

It will beunderstood that in such a machine as is shown inthe drawingswhen two sets of coating operations are going. on at the same time,there should be two sets of parts to feed'center's to the coatingmechanism. and receive them when coated, located opposite each other.

The advantage of the chocolate lifting mechanism shown is dueto the factthat friction is largely eliminated, and the.temperature of thechocolate can be maintained at a predetermined degree. Moreover, thereis no tendency forair bubbles to collect in the chocolate-in fact thereis no opportunity. for air to collect in the chocolate on the lifter.The chocolate is thus lifted in a continuous solid stream of given,temperature, which,-so far as I know, is not the case when chocolate islifted by any of the pumps in use. This mechanism while described as achocolate lifter, maybe used for other liquids, especially those of asimilar character.

-While the end of the finger 3' is shown as il loop shaped it may beotherwise shaped, for

example, like a star or a fork, or otherwise,

and so change somewhat the finish of the goods. This finish will inanyevent be irregular and resemble the irregular finish on hand-dippedgoods.

While I have described this'machine with considerable particularity, Ido not mean to limit myself to the particular construction shown, asmany alterations in the details of construction will doubtless occur toone skilled in the art which will not depart from the spirit of myinvention.

What I claim-as my invention is 1. In a machine of the kind described, atank, a pan. mounted concentrically there with above said tank andhaving a downward extensi n into Said tank, and a lifter means, andindividual heating means attached to each center-holding and: dippingmeans. 1

13. In a machine ofthe kind described, a 5 gripper comprising a holder,arms pivoted thereto and slotted at their rear ends, and a buttonadapted to slide in and out from said holder and having'pinsadapted toengage said slots, whereby upon the movement of said button said armswill be moved toward or from each other. t

' ,4? 4. In a machine of the kind described, a

gripper comprising a holder, arms pivoted thereto and. slotted at their,rear'ends, and

a button adapted to slidein' and out from said holder and having pinsadapted to engage said slots, whereby upon the movement of said buttonsaid arms will be moved to? Ward or from each other, in combination Withmeans adapted to engage'and move said button. I

. 15. In a machine of the kind described, a

gripper comprising a holder, arms pivoted theretoand slotted at theirrear ends, and

a button adapted. to slide in and out-from said holder and havingpinsvadapted toengagesaid slots, whereby upon the movement, of saidbuttonsaid arms will be moved to ward or from each other, in combinationwith means adapted: to engage and move said button comprising a leverlocated' on said button andifa cam surface adapted .to engage said leverand means adaptedto bring saidlever and said cam surface intoengagement.

lain a ma hine (if the kind described, a"

tank, "a pan of less dimensions than said tank and located above saidtank and within I the projected walls thereof and concen- 40 tricallytherewith, said pan having side.

walls to maintain a predetermined depth of liquid material fed thereto,centrallylocated means for lifting the contents of saidtank' to said panwhereby said lifted contents will be distributed substantially equallyover the surface of said pan and any excess of material will overflowthe sides of said pan into said tank, the base of s'aidpan, said tankand said lifting means being jacketed, i'n combination with connectionswhereby said jacket may be'maintained at a corn stant tempeiature asdesired.

17. In a machine of the kind described, a

tank, a pan of less dimensions than said tank and located above saidtank and within the'i aprojected walls "thereof -and concentrically,therewith, said pan having side walls to maintain a predetermined depthof liquid material fed thereto, centrally-located means for lifting thecontents "of said tank to said pan whereby said lifted'contents will bedistributed substantially equally over the; surface of said pan and anyezicess of ;ma

masses terial will overflow the sides of said pan into said tank, incombination with means whereby articles may be submerged in the contentsof said pan. v

I 18. In a machine of the kind described, a gripper comprising a holder,arms pivoted thereto and slotted at their rear ends, and

a button adapted to slide; in and out from said holder and having pinsadapted to engage said slots, whereby upon the movement of said buttonsaid arms will be moved toward or from each other, in combination with.a, stationary head having a cam surface and a rotary (head, said gripperbeing .mounted on said rotary head and having a lever mounted on saidbutton adapted to en gage with said cam surface whereby said lever willbe operated and said button will be depressed. l9. Ina machine oi" thekind described, a

. gripper having three arms mounted thereon,

two'of said arms-being opposite each other and adapted to engage thesides of a center and the third arm being adapted to engage the top ofthe center, and. means whereby said-first named arms maybefopenedto'receiveand also to release a center and means whereby the third armmay be moved independently of theother two.

20. In a'machine of the'kind described, a gripper having three armsmounted thereon, two ofsaid arms being. opposite each other and adaptedto engage the sides of a center and the-third armbeing-adapted to engagethe top of the center, and means whereby said .top engaging arm may belifted oil" said center during the dipping operation and while saidcenter is still held by the other arms. 1

f 21. In a machine of the kind described, a gripper having threearmsmounted thereon, two of said arms being opposite each other aiidadapted to engage the sides of a center and the third arm being adaptedto engage the top of the center, the outer end of said top-eng 'ging armbeing loop-shaped as and for the purposes set forth. 4

22. In a coating mechanism, a pan, a gripper -me'chanism'located'oversaid pan and comprising 'a pair of gripping fingers and .has been rockedinto and out, of said pan and while said gripping fingers'are inboldposition, whereby said finishing finger 1,128,308 I v 371i 9 willlift a portion of the coating of the arti' and having'a broadened endadapted t0 drew cle held by said gripping fingers and allow up and thendrop a string of chocolate in 10 it to fall on said artlcle n thefinishing operation.

- 23.111 a machine of the kind described,

gripping mechanism comprising a plurality C GREEN" of fingers adapted togrip-an article and a Witnesses: I finishing fingei" adapted tocoiiperate-wit-h GEORGE O. G. COALE,

said gripping fingers in holding the article M. E. ELAI -IERTY.

